16 years
by Tina Eirien
Summary: Set in "All the best Cowboys have Daddy issues", short before Ethan tries to kill Charlie. What if someone else found Charlie? And what if this person knows more about Ethan?
1. Default Chapter

Set in "All the best Cowboys have Daddy issues", short before Ethan tries to kill Charlie. What if someone else found Charlie? And what if this person knows more about Ethan?

I haven´t seen many LOST-episodes, it´s not on free-tv here yet. I haven´t seen "Raised by another", so I hope there aren´t too many mistakes. Also, english is not my native language - I hope you don´t have to laugh too much about my mistakes ;-)

Please review. Thank you!

I had followed them for a while now... always quiet and far away so he wouldn´t hear me... Ethan - I hated that man. I knew from the first moment I met him that he was evil.

And what he did now, was beyond anything that he had done before. He had killed people on the island before... but he´d never kidnapped someone...

I was only nine when the plane crashed on this island. Some of the survivers were good-natured, honest people that cared about me - but others, the people that gathered ´round Ethan were different. At first, I didn´t understand what they said, because I could neither speak english nor french, but within a year, I spoke both languages well enough to tell that Ethan was part of a group that had caused the plane to crash.

For many years, me and the people that cared about me, lived in fear. Ethan was the leader on this island. And his word was law.

Ethan stopped and turned around. Quick, I hid behind a tree. He couldn´t have heard me... but then I realized he wasn´t watching out for me, but for someone else. Two people were tracking Ethan and his hostages. They were close.

Ethan hesitated for a moment, then, without a word he hit the boy in the face, who went down, unconscious. The pregnant girl screamed, though she couldn´t see anything. Ethan gagged her, made her sit down and tied her legs. Then he ran towards the two pursuers.

"What do I do? Think, Teena, think!", I whispered and stared at the two hostages with throbbing heart. It started to rain, so I decided to take advantage of the noise that the rain caused and tried to help them.

I left the shelter of the tree and ran towards the girl. When I reached her, I tried to loosen the bonds that tied her hands, but they wouldn´t give in. Then I realized, that Ethan was coming back...

"Listen!", I said to the pregnant girl in a hurry. "I´ll try to help you. But he´s coming back! I will help you!"

Then I ran back in the jungle and hid behind a tree.

"They are coming for you, Claire.", Ethan said to the girl and pulled her up on her feet. "Too bad that your friend Charlie is now only an obstacle for us."

He removed the blindfold from Claires eyes and she screamed when she saw Charlie on the floor, still unconscious.

"Don´t hurt him.", she tried to say through her gag.

Ethan smiled. "No, it won´t hurt. I promise."

He then pushed her back to the floor, pulled Charlie up and lifted him on his shoulders.

Claire cried and tried to loosen her bonds.

Ethan reached for some vines that hung down from a tree and slung them around Charlies neck a couple of times. Then he climbed up a slope and then released Charlie from his shoulders - his feet didn´t reach the ground.

I gasped and closed my eyes. Pictures of the past passed in front of my inner eye and I swallowed to prevent me from vomiting. He would never stop to kill... never.

"Better I take those with me, they could be a good use again, don´t you think, Claire?", Ethan said to the girl and removed the handcuffs from Charlie. "You shouldn´t waste anything on this island..."

I opened my eyes again and looked for Ethan. He was already pushing the pregnant girl forward. The boy, Charlie, still hung in the vines, his face red and swollen.

I waited one more moment, then I ran towards Charlie and pulled out my knife. I was too small to reach the vines, so I climbed up the tree and tried to cut them from there... after some tries I managed to catch them and began to cut.

It seemed to take an eternity, but then finally Charlie fell and landed on the wet ground with a loud thud.

I jumped down and pulled the vines from his bruised neck.

"Don´t be dead.", I whispered and removed the blindfold. Then I felt for a pulse - nothing. He also didn´t breathe.

Desperate, I shook him. I didn´t know how to reanimate someone! I had never learned something like this.

Then I remembered the day when the plane crashed... some people had done something to my father, to make his heart beat again - but he didn´t wake up...

I pushed the thought of Fathers death aside and placed my hands on Charlies chest. Then I pushed down hard. Again and again.

"Come on!", I hissed.

Then, suddenly, Charlie opened his eyes and gasped for air. He sat up and grabbed my shirt. Confused and shocked he clung to me.

"It´s allright.", I said and tried to calm him down. "Breathe... it´s going to be okay."

After a while, Charlie calmed down and his breathing was more even. He released me from his embrace and looked at me, confused.

"Are you allright?", I asked. He didn´t react.

"Ethan, he did this to you - and he took Claire with him.", I then added, because I didn´t know what to say.

Charlie looked around in panic, but didn´t say anything.

"Listen, someone was coming for you... two people. A man and a woman. I will find them for you."

"Okay.", Charlie croaked and tried to stand up.

I helped to steady him. "Wait here! Okay. Don´t move!", I said.

Charlie nodded.

Then I set off to find the couple that I had seen earlier.

Not far away, I heard them, as they climbed up the hill.

"Help!", I called. "I need help. Here!"

The man and the woman followed me.

"Wait a second!", the man exclaimed. "Where are you leading us?"

"I found Charlie. He´s injured!"

Then they reached the place where Charlie was waiting.

"Oh my god!", the woman gasped.

The man immediately made Charlie sit down and examined his neck.

"Ethan did this to him.", I said. "He hung him up."

The woman turned around and faced me. "Who are you? Were you with Ethan?"

"No! I... I live here. I saw what Ethan was doing."

"She saved my life.", Charlie whispered.

"Don´t speak.", the man said to him.

"We need to take him to the Caves.", the woman said.

"Claire!", Charlie said and then winced in pain.

"We will find her!", the man promised him. "But we need to bring you back."

"Do you know where he´s leading her?", the woman asked me.

"No.", I answered. "I know where his former camp was... but after, after my friend died, I never went back."

"You will have to tell us everything.", the man said and helped Charlie to stand up. "But first we have to bring Charlie back. You will come with us."

I nodded...

When we arrived at the Caves, everyone was shocked to see what happened to Charlie. Jack and Kate, as I had learned their names, tried to explain everything to them. Charlie was in shock and did nothing else than staring at the fire.

The other people shot nervous and curious looks at me and I wished I could just leave and go back to my home in the jungle.

Kate wrapped a blanket around Charlies shoulders and Jack came to me.

"Are you thirsty?", he asked me.

Scared, I looked at him and nodded.

"You don´t have to be afraid. Without you, Charlie would be dead."

"Will he be okay?"

"I hope so. I hope his brain isn´t damaged... has he talked to you?"

"Not much...", I said.

Jack gave me a cup of water.

"So, you said you live in the jungle? Who are you?", he asked.

"Our plane crashed many years ago.", I explained. "I was only nine when it happened... some people helped me to learn how to stay alive on this island. Ethan and his people killed many of them... because they found out that he was the reason why our plane crashed."

"What do you mean?", Jack asked.

"I think it was a bomb... I don´t know. I was too young to understand. And I ran away from them before I could find out the truth."

"How old were you when you ran away?"

"I don´t know - maybe 12? A woman cared for me... a french woman. She had teached me. She was very wise."

"And she died?"

"Yes, a while ago... I lost the sense of time."

"Do you know how long you live on this island?"

I shook my head.

"We found out that you are here for 16 years."

"Sixteen?", I asked and tears filled my eyes. "Sixteen years!"

Jack nodded.

"You can stay with us. But we need your help to find Ethan - to find Claire."

"I will try to help you. But he´s dangerous. He´s crazy. And his people are... killer."

"We will talk again tomorrow. Try to get some sleep.", Jack said and went to Charlie and Kate.

In this night, I couldn´t find any sleep. I had found a place at a tree, in the shadow where no one could see me. They were looking at me, but no one talked to me. Except the little boy, Walt. But his father called him back before we could have a real conversation.

I sighed and looked up in the sky.

Then I heard someone approach.

"I thank you."

It was Charlie. He sat down next to me.

"You´re welcome.", I answered.

We were quiet for a moment.

"I can´t remember what happened.", he said then.

"I think it´s better you don´t remember, Charlie..."

"But I have to find Claire.", he interrupted me. "Will you help me?"

"Of course I will. I´ll tell you everything I know."

Charlie looked at the floor.

"Will he hurt her?", he asked.

I didn´t know what to say... so I told him that I wasn´t sure.

We sat there for a while. No one spoke. I guessed it was best to leave Charlie alone, to let him ask the questions when he was ready.

"You live here since you were nine?"

"Yes."

"So you have no idea about movies, music, books!"

"I learned a few things from Estelle, but I guess you are right. I don´t really know about the world out there."

"How old are you?"

"Jack told me we are here for 16 years - so I must be 25 now."

Charlie frowned. "That sucks."

"Yes.", I said. "You are absolutely right."

"You don´t have to cheer me up.", he said, but a faint smile was visible on his face.

"Am I?"

"So, where do you come from? Before that happened?", he asked.

"Germany.", I answered.

"I guessed that.", he said.

"No way! I even can´t remember it! So don´t tell me I still have an accent."

"I stayed in Germany for a while, with my band, I´m in a band. Have been in a band...", he stopped and was lost in thoughts.

"What kind of music?", I asked.

"Rock!", his eyes brightend up a bit.

I smiled. "Sorry, never heard that kind of music in my life."

"Oh... you missed alot! I´m going to show you what rock is."

"Good."

"And you learned english from a french woman?"

"Right."

He smirked.

"What?"

"Nothing!!!"

And so we talked all night long - I knew Charlie was trying to distract himself from thinking about Claire and about what happened - but for me it was the first real conversation I had in years...

To be continued


	2. 16 years Chapter 2

Chapter 2 is here :-)

Thank you for the reviews, szhismine and lilsurfnchik25! I´m so happy about them!

I forgot something in the first chapter: No copyright infringement intended, I don´t own anything, this is just for fun.

Chapter 2:

Sometime in the night, I must´ve fallen asleep in spite and when I woke up in the morning, Charlie was gone.

I stood up and stretched my legs. Most of the other survivors were already awake and gathered around Jack, Kate and Charlie.

I didn´t know if I should join them - or wait until someone would call me. But then Kate spotted me and gave me a sign to come to them.

"Allright,", said Jack. "for those who haven´t heard the news. This is..", he stopped and realized that he didn´t know my name.

"Teena", I said and sounded like a little child, because I wasn´t used to be surrounded by so many strangers.

"Teena.", Jack added. "She´s been in the crash 16 years ago. She knows where Ethan lived and can help us to find him and his men."

"There are more survivors?", asked a blonde girl.

Jack nodded and looked at me.

"There... there are about 10 people that belong to Ethan.", I said. "I don´t know how many other people survived after I ran away. There were 7 others left."

"What do you mean, 7 others?", asked a man.

"People that don´t belong to Ethans group."

"That´s weird.", said the blonde girl.

"How do we know we can trust her?", asked Walts father.

"She saved my life, Michael!", Charlie exploded. "And I will not stay here!", he shouted at Jack.

"Charlie, your heartbeat stopped yesterday. You didn´t breathe. Your neck is still swollen. You cannot come along."

"I will not stay here.", he repeated stubborn and looked Jack in the eyes.

"We´ll talk about it later.", Jack said.

"Don´t treat me like a child, Jack!", Charlie said. "I promised to protect her."

"Calm down, little Rockstar! You had your chance to protect her!", a man said to him.

"Shut up, Sawyer!", a big boy answered. "Leave him alone."

Charlie stood up and walked away.

Jack sighed. "I´ll talk to him later."

"You cannot leave him alone.", Kate said.

She left and followed Charlie.

I was confused. It seemed, that the people here weren´t the same opinion about what to do next.

"We should wait for Locke and Boone. Perhaps they found her.", said the big boy.

"No. They would already be back.", said Sawyer.

The blonde girl shot him a nervous look.

"Shannon, they are allright. I´m sure they made camp and will come back soon.", Jack said.

"So, can you lead us to Ethans former camp?", he asked me.

"Yes.", I answered.

"Then let´s pack some things - and someone will have to find Lockes suitcase. We need some extra knives."

I followed Kate and found her and Charlie sitting on a rock. Kate talked to Charlie, but he just looked at the jungle.

"Uhm, I can stay with him if you´d like to talk to Jack and pack some things. They want to go soon.", I said to Kate.

She nodded and raised. "Thanks."

"Charlie, I´ll come back later. Okay?"

Charlie didn´t answer.

She sighed and walked back to the caves.

I sat down next to him.

"You know, I can also tell them that I won´t go unless I can take you along."

Charlie looked at me.

"Jack is right.", he said cold. "I can´t come along. I feel awful."

Tears filled his eyes and he quickly wiped them away.

"It´s just that I promised her!", he whispered. "And now I can´t do anything. I feel so useless!"

He looked away.

I felt so sorry for him. It took me a moment to choose my words.

"You are not useless. You nearly died because you tried to protect her."

"That´s not true.", he said. "I couldn´t do anything to protect her!"

"That wasn´t your fault. You were there with her. And she will never forget that."

"I just want to find her."

"We will.", I said. "You know, I also promised her to help her."

"What?"

"When Ethan went for Jack and Kate, I tried to free her hands - but Ethan came back too early. I promised to help her back then. And I will not break my promise."

Charlie nodded and wiped his nose.

I gave him an encouraging smile. "Hey, and when we come back, you will show me your Rockmusic-Thing. Right?"

He nodded tired.

I tried to convince Charlie to come back to the caves, but he said he preferred to stay there for another while.

When I was about to leave, the big boy that had defended Charlie earlier, arrived.

"Jack wants to see you.", he said. "I´m Hurley, by the way."

"Nice to meet you.", I answered. "Will you stay with Charlie?"

"I want to be alone.", he said.

"Dude, you shouldn´t be alone.", Hurley told him and sat down next to him.

"Thank you.", I said to Hurley. "Charlie, I´ll see you when we come back."

But he was already lost in thoughts again.

"Bye.", I said to Hurley and made my way back to the caves.

"Here.", Jack handed me a knive.

"I have a knive.", I said and gave it back to him.

"So, where do we go?", asked Jack.

"We head north.", I answered. "I think we have to walk two or three hours before we reach the place of our first camp. How many are coming along?"

"Kate, Sawyer, Michael and I will go."

"Good, let´s go."

After two hours, we stopped for a break. A heavy rain had started and I had a bad feeling that someone followed us.

I looked around and spotted someone.

"Jack!", I said. "Over there."

Jack turned around. "Locke, Boone!", he exclaimed and walked towards them.

A older and a younger man joined him.

"What are you doing here?", the older man asked.

"We try to find Ethans camp. He still has Claire."

"Have you found Charlie?", asked the younger one. "Where is he?"

"He nearly died, Boone. He´s at the caves.", said Kate.

Locke frowned. "What did he do to him?"

Jack hesitated. "He hung him up."

Boone gasped. "And you found him in time?"

"She found him.", said Kate and pointed at me.

"Lucky guy.", Locke said. "And you lead them?"

"I know where Ethan used to stay.", I answered.

"Then what are we waiting for?"

Locke moved on. I followed him and led the way.

Another hour later, we reached a clearing and I stopped.

"This is it.", I said. "Our first camp."

"You know this island like your vest pocket, huh?", said Sawyer and smirked.

"Nothing´s here.", said Michael.

"No one´s been here for years.", Locke murmured. He pointed at some little hills in some distance.

"Graveyards. Of some people they killed.", I said, then I continued, "We should refill our water supplies and move on. Another hour north and we reach the next camp. I ran away from there, but I know of another one. Ethan always heads north, so we should be able to find him."

Kate stared at me and then she asked: "Why north? What´s up there?"

"I told you he´s not normal. It´s part of his beliefs."

I filled up my water bottle when I heard something in the woods. I turned around and spotted Charlie, a second before he tried to hide behind a tree.

Quick, I went after him.

He leaned against the tree, exhausted and out of breath.

"What are you doing here? Did you lie to me?", I whispered, so the others wouldn´t hear.

"No... I sent Hurley away. And then - I couldn´t just sit there and do nothing!", he answered and coughed.

"You are not in the condition to do this. And especially not on your own!"

"I came this far. I will not go back."

"Here.", I gave him my water bottle. "Drink."

Eagerly, he drank most of the water.

"You should at least take water supplies with you when you go out in the jungle.", I told him.

"I was quite in a hurry.", he answered.

I sighed. "We should join the others. They won´t send you away. Come."

"No, but Jack is going to kill me.", Charlie said.

He followed me and we met the others.

"I don´t believe this!", Jack exclaimed and came towards us. "Are you out of your mind?"

"I told you I´d come along.", said Charlie.

"Look at you!"

"I´m fine! Let´s just go on."

Jack shook his head no. "And what if we find them? What will you do then, Charlie? You are to weak to, to fight!"

Sawyer sighed. "If he wants to kill himself, leave him. Can we go on now?"

"I think we should respect his decision.", I said and looked at Jack.

"What choice do we have?", Jack answered.

"Let´s move on!", Locke said and walked north.


	3. 16 years Chapter 3

I´m finally back ;-) Sorry that it took me so long to update.

Thank you, XxDanaxX - I hope you like the new chapter!

And many thanks to Enelya Tasartir! Yes, Charlie is my favorite character-)

Chapter 3 - Rated PG for voilence

No copyright infringement intended, I don´t own anything, this is just for fun.

We continued to fight our way through the jungle.

"Perhaps we should make camp.", Michael said. "It´s getting dark. We can continue tomorrow."

"We have at least another three or four hours of daylight.", said Locke.

"We cannot stop.", said Charlie. "We´re almost there."

"We´re almost at the next camp - but from there, we have to search Ethans new camp.", I answered. "Michael is right, we cannot do that in the night. Perhaps we have to split up. But I suggest we go on until it´s dark."

"Let´s move", said Boone. "and not waste any more time."

Jack nodded.

20 minutes later, we reached the place of the camp I ran away from.

"This is it.", I said.

"And you are sure he headed north", asked Kate.

"Yes - he tried to teach me his rules when I was younger. But I never believed in his convictions - he always talked of the north, that the one he´s waiting for would arrive there."

"What a bullshit.", said Sawyer.

"Let´s move on.", Locke said and we followed him. Now he was the leader.

A while later, I realized that Charlie was falling behind.

I walked back to him. He was breathing hard and shivering from the constant rain and exhaustion.

"Hey, shall we take a break"

"Go on. We will loose the others."

"You better take care that you don´t get lost."

I turned around to call Jack, who was nearly out of sight, but Charlie grabbed my arm.

"Don´t. I don´t want him to know.", he said. "I can do this. I have to do this. Do you understand"

"But he´s right, what if we find Ethan and his men and you are in this condition"

"I don´t care. I couldn´t forgive myself if I hadn´t tried to save her."

I nodded - he loved her and that was the only thing he could do for her at the moment.

"Come."

We walked on, following the others, who were now out of sight.

After two or three minutes I stopped.

"Where are they", asked Charlie.

"We cannot be on the wrong path.", I said.

"We lost them", said Charlie and I could hear the panic in his voice.

"No. They were here. Look at the fresh footprints"

"They belong to me.", someone said from behind.

Shocked, we turned around - Ethan.

I stumbled backwards and looked at Charlie. He was white as a sheet, it seemed he wasn´t able to move.

"I thought I got rid of you.", Ethan said to Charlie, took a step forward and grabbed his neck.

Charlie gasped and closed his eyes in pain.

"Stop it", I shouted. Ethan continued.

I called out for Jack - I shouted as loud as I could, but even if they found us, it would be too late for Charlie.

I took my knive - and in this second, Ethan stopped to choke Charlie.

He turned around, Charlie sank to the floor, coughing and desperately sucking in some air.

Ethan came towards me.

"You want to kill me, huh"

I stared at him, my knive in front of me. I wasn´t able to speak, all the horrible memories of the past flooded back in my mind.

"I always treated you good.", he said very calm. "You never had to be afraid of me."

He smiled "But you always were afraid, little girl."

I swallowed. "I´m not the little girl you remember.", I answered.

"I know you.", he continued and took a step towards me.

"You cannot kill a human."

I began to shiver, because I knew he was right. Could I kill a human being? Even if it was Ethan?

"Stop it", I shouted.

"I teached you so many things. You wouldn´t be alive without me", Ethan said. "Do you remember the day I saved you from drowning? No, you cannot kill me. I see right through you"

Suddenly, Ethan screamed out loud.

Charlie, still on the ground, but on his knees now, had pushed his knive in Ethans back.

He turned around and kicked Charlie in the face. Charlie fell backwards and landed on the floor.

Ethan reached for the knive, and with another scream, he pulled it out. He grabbed Charlies collar.

"Now you´re dead", he shouted.

I jumped forwards to prevent Ethan from killing Charlie - and when I reached them, I felt a sharp pain in my stomach.

Slowly, I looked down... the knive - Ethan had seen me coming.

I froze. Ethan turned around, his hand still on the knive. He grabbed my wrist and my own knive fell on the floor.

"I told you I know you.", he said cold and pulled the knive out. I gasped - but it didn´t hurt.

My knees gave in and I sank to the floor.

Then they came - Jack, Locke, Boone, Michael and Sawyer arrived and surrounded Ethan.

"You will never find her without me", Ethan shouted and laughed out loud.

"Drop the knive", demanded Locke.

Ethan shook his head. And within a second, he pushed it in his own chest.

My vision swam and I felt cold.

The next second, Jack was there.

"Oh no.", he said. "Lay down."

I looked at him. "It´s not bad.", I said. "It doesn´t hurt."

Jack gave me a faint smile. "Lay down.", he said once more.

He lifted my shirt and looked at the others.

Locke kneeled down next to Jack.

"Hey, we found Claire.", he said to me.

"But - the others.", I answered and wondered how weak I sounded.

"There were no others.", Jack told me. "Ethan was all alone."

"He must have killed them all.", said Locke.

"Claire is fine. Kate is with her."

I nodded and closed my eyes. I was so tired...

"There´s nothing I can do - not here.", whispered Jack.

That was the last thing I heard, before I drifted away...

Ten days later, Charlie visited Teenas grave.

He sat down on a rock next to it and waited a moment before he spoke.

"Claire got her baby.", he said. "It´s a girl."

He swallowed, he didn´t want to cry now...

"Claire knows what you did for her. She wants to name her after you."

He sighed. "Both are fine. Claire and the Baby, I mean."

Charlie fought back the urge to cry.

Quick he took his guitar. He had brought it along.

"I promised you to show you some rock music...", he said and began to play.

The End


End file.
